The Ultimate Practice Ready Exercise

One of our school’s mission pillars, and one of the reasons I chose to attend Charlotte Law, is the school’s commitment to making students practice ready. Practice ready assignments have many benefits. But it was not until my 3L year that I was able to experience the ultimate practice ready assignment – actually representing a client in court – through the Civil Rights Clinic and the use of the North Carolina Student Practice Certificate.

A student is eligible for a practice certificate if they have completed 45 credit hours, are in good academic standing, and supervised by a licensed attorney. All it takes is filling out a few forms (found on RUFUS) and submitting them to the North Carolina State Bar. With a practice certificate, a student can take on the role as lawyer – doing everything from offering legal advice to trying a court case.

My experience as part of the Civil Rights Clinic was to work with a defendant on a criminal misdemeanor. Under the supervision of Prof. Jason Huber and a local criminal defense attorney, I was able to meet with the client, work on case strategy, meet with the District Attorney, and actually represent our client in court – handling everything from pre-trial plea negotiations, cross-examining witnesses, giving a closing argument, and negotiating sentencing. The whole experience was the ultimate combination of class lectures I have attended. Being in the courtroom just feels right – as if it is where I belong. I am lucky enough to have had this amazing educational experience. The Student Practice Certificate is absolutely the ultimate practice ready exercise and I think every student should have this experience.

More information about the Student Practice Certificate is available on RUFUS.

By: Rachel Davis

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This entry was posted on Monday, November 5th, 2012 at 1:14 PM and is filed under Charlotte Law, Student News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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One Response to The Ultimate Practice Ready Exercise

That’s was pretty cool. Her voice snduos amazing and the video was clever however, with all the red and white it reminded me more of a White Stripes video, but still very cool.The Trousered Apes last blog post..

Join clinic member Gabrielle Valentine and administrative law clerk Hannah Davies as they discuss Amendment 782 to the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines. Hannah Davies is law clerk to the Honorable Judge Reidinger of the Western District of North Carolina.